Quantum coherent oscillations in the early universe

Igor Pikovski, Abraham Loeb

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cosmic inflation is commonly assumed to be driven by quantum fields. Quantum mechanics predicts phenomena such as quantum fluctuations and tunneling of the field. Here, we show an example of a quantum interference effect which goes beyond the semiclassical treatment and which may be of relevance in the early Universe. We study the quantum coherent dynamics for a tilted, periodic potential, which results in genuine quantum oscillations of the inflaton field, analogous to Bloch oscillations in condensed matter and atomic systems. The underlying quantum superpositions are typically very fragile but may persist in the early Universe giving rise to quantum interference phenomena in cosmology.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101302
JournalPhysical Review D
Volume93
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 25 May 2016

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